Simple
by Moon Prynces
Summary: Akane decides to get a job, her only shot at a normal life. But Ranma shows up. For what? A gift? But for who?


Summary–Akane decides to get a job, her only shot at a normal life. But Ranma shows up. For what? A gift? But for who?

**Disclaimer–I do not own Ranma 1/2, which belongs to its respective owner(s) and is only being used in a fan-made, fictional story.**

**xoxo**

**Title–Simple**

**By–Moon Prynces**

**xoxo**

The dark-haired girl muttered something under her breath as a particularly difficult (if not impossible) customer left the store, a bell sounding when the door was moved from its resting place. She walked back around the counter to sit on a stool as she gazed, bored, at the big empty room.

Akane, realizing business would be slow today, picked up a magazine from a stack next to her and began flipping through pages.

The past months were hell, especially compared to the peace around her now. Ranma and Genma Saotome brought problems with them everywhere they went – from what she heard of their training expeditions in China and now that they lived in the same house. Usually Ranma and the situations she would get into with him made her angry, but lately she was getting tired and frustrated. The same routine of events everyday was starting to fray her nerves and even her muscles ached from stress and unnecessary workouts.

This was why Akane had the brilliant idea to get a job. It was something that could get her out of the noisy household without being bothered. And especially since it would help with the income that wasn't doing so well since they picked up so many freeloaders that came and went as they pleased. Nabiki was the only one who seemed to manage easily in this department with her many scams.

Akane sighed and looked around again at the store, thinking back to her interview and the former manager/store owner.

It was so easy to get the job; it was too good to be true. Now she realized why... It was so boring on the slow days and complete hell on the others. The former manager must've known this and decided to get out of it to spend more time doing nothing. The last time she called the owner she was pretending to be at important meetings, but Akane heard distinct splashes of water that indicated she was either at a pool or the beach.

She also remembered how the first few weeks at her new job Akane had kept it a secret from everyone, even her family. She remembered sneaking out of the house after school, grabbing a snack on her way after she changed clothes and sneaking back in late at night. Her shift was from four to eleven on weekdays and ten in the morning to three on weekends.

And one day – after much pestering about a mystery lover – Akane confessed she was now employed, just to get them out of her hair. What she truly didn't expect though, was for her family and even Genma to congratulate her – everyone except Ranma, who sat at dinner looking down at his food and eating very slowly.

She really didn't understand him sometimes. One minute he was yelling and arguing with her, calling her uncute and a tomboy and the next he was being nice and blushing. But then again, her own behavior towards him was the same so it was a neverending, confusing cycle.

Akane shook her head and continued reading a random article from the pages of the magazine. Before she knew it, an hour and a half had passed. A resounding tinkle made its way to her ears.

A customer. She put down the magazine and hopped off the stool to quickly stretch her muscles. She walked around the counter and looked up to meet a pair of stone-gray eyes.

Akane yelped and jumped away when she realized the extremely close proximity of her face...and her supposed fiancé.

This was odd to her. No one she knew had ever dropped by to visit her at her job...because she'd never told anyone where it was she worked. She didn't want to be harassed was mostly the reason.

"Wow, is that a new salesgirl technique or something?" he said raising an eyebrow sardonically.

Akane was about to reply angrily but instead the voice that came out was the opposite. "How may I help you today, sir?" she said in a soft tone that she used to work with.

She stared at him, wondering if the environment made her react that way. He stared because he wasn't sure if this was the same person he was engaged to. But the tag on her shirt flashed with the light reflecting off it, proudly proclaiming the name Akane.

"Uh, yeah...anyway," he said uncertainly turning around slightly. "I was just wandering around town and I saw you through the shop window." He now turned his eyes upon her mysteriously. "And I thought I'd buy a present for this person I know."

Akane nodded mutely, not bothering to think his words over. "So, what kind of gift do you think this person would like?" she asked, turning around to lead him through the store to examine different items.

"Well, I dunno actually. It's kinda hard to say what she likes," he said, scratching his head.

"Oh, so it's a girl?" she asked silently. He nodded but she couldn't see since she was the one leading. "Well, maybe clothes then? Do you know her size in anything?"

Ranma looked down at her as she stopped and turned to him. "Ah...actually, no. Clothes would be a bad idea," he replied.

"It's simple. We could just pour some water on you and take your measurements – she must be around your size," Akane suggested with a wicked grin.

Ranma backed away a little. "Nope, no. It's okay. No clothes."

She smiled slightly. "Since you have no idea what to get, why don't you describe her to me and I'll give you some suggestions."

He seemed to think this over a bit and found the plan to be satisfactory. They retraced their steps back to the counter, with Akane on one side and Ranma leaning on it on the other.

"She's kind of..." he trailed off, finding it harder than he thought. "Strong," came his serious voice after a few moments.

"Strong?" was her disbelieving one.

"Yeah, she's a great martial artist," he said again, this time with a smile.

"Oh," she said, looking away so the hurt wouldn't be seen in her eyes. She knew from the beginning it couldn't have been her, but a part of her thought it might have been a friendly gift for Kasumi and her hard work or Nabiki who had yet again conned him. Now she knew it was obviously for one of his many admirers. She had already accepted that she had feelings for the moronic boy and knew that with all the other wonderful fiancées he had she was no match. All she could do was pay attention, listen closely and try to figure out who his heart belonged to.

Ranma watched her carefully but her face was hidden from view.

"What else?" Akane said abruptly, looking up suddenly.

"Wha– Huh?" he said, startled.

"How else can I help you figure out what to get her?" she responded quickly, covering up her mistake.

He thought this over, searching for something else to use in his description that could keep the identity elusive.

"She's got nice hair!" he declared.

Akane sweatdropped. Ranma's face faltered as the stupidity of his statement reached him. Akane recovered quickly though.

"So then, do you mean you'd like to get her a set of hair barrettes or maybe a hat?" she asked. 'Shampoo? Or it could be Ukyo,' she thought to herself as an image of them and their beautiful manes came to mind, making her bitter that her own hair had been cut off without warning.

"Ah...no, nevermind. That's not really what I meant," he assured her questioning gaze.

"Anymore clues then?" she tried again.

"She's pretty?" he replied.

"Pretty?" she asked, blinking.

"Yeah, ya know, nice to look at," he repeated, annoyed as a light blush broke out on his cheeks.

She almost started laughing. Of course he would say that about this girl, whoever she was. He always called her uncute and his clue only further confirmed that he wasn't talking about her, but it wasn't enough to tell which girl it was.

"Then how about a bottle of perfume?" She turned around to get some samples.

"No, that's not it." Akane looked back at him. "It's just too...obvious," he stated meekly.

She sighed, "Okay then."

This time he commenced in his description without her prompting him to. "She has a nice voice too," he said, almost to himself. "And...the way she looks at me sometimes...it makes me feel...funny," he ended lamely as another blush came to his face.

Akane fought down the feeling trying to get out of her chest. She wanted so badly to give an earth shattering scream until her voice gave out. And then cry until she couldn't feel anything anymore. Instead, she put on a smile, with very much effort.

"Maybe you could get her a box of chocolate or a teddy bear. Sorry Ranma, I'm running out of ideas." She smiled apologetically, trying to keep her heart from falling to the floor and shattering.

Ranma looked at her studiously. "I doubt those would work. Man, this is harder than I thought."

She shook her head and replied in a defeated voice, which he thought was because none of her ideas were to his liking. "I guess that maybe she isn't this type of person then. Maybe you should keep it simple. Sometimes you can make someone happy with small gestures. You could just make her something."

And that's when it glinted and caught his eyes. An idea popped into his head and he slowly smiled.

"Thanks for your help anyway Akane," he said with his strange smile.

She blushed slightly and looked around for some way to occupy herself. And then a stack of flyers that had been on the counter were floating to the ground all around them.

"Whoops, sorry." Ranma dropped to the floor to pick them up. Akane moved around the counter to help, after snatching up the few that fell on her side.

When the task was over they both stood up quickly and put the papers down on the surface.

"I guess I'll be going now." He backed away a little, towards the door.

"I'll see you at home then," she responded.

"Yeah, when'll you be home? Kasumi, uh, wanted to know if you'd make it for dinner."

"No," she sighed, realizing how much of her sisters cooking she'd missed in the past few weeks. "My shift is over at eleven but I need to close up too. Maybe around eleven thirty."

Before she could blink he had waved and was out the door.

Another sigh. Thankfully for her, the next few hours were moderately busy so she spent all her energy helping people find what they needed instead of trying to figure out who Ranma liked and getting depressed.

While clocking out and tidying up the store before leaving Akane made to take off the annoying tag that said her name. Until she noticed it wasn't there. She checked her pockets and other places on her person but it wasn't there. She figured it must've fallen off sometime during the day – it wouldn't have been a first. She searched for ten minutes but couldn't find it anywhere. Giving up, she shrugged it off, knowing she could probably get another one from her boss when asked.

The walk home made her realize how tired she was. Walking up the stairs to her room was such a chore. She stepped into her room, closed the door and began to change, deciding to take a shower in the morning.

Luckily though her eyes were open as she was about to throw herself on her bed. Thus, she noticed a piece of paper folded in half and a name plate on top of it.

She gasped, recognizing it as the tag she wore to work. Her name – _Akane_ – reflected the light as she moved closer to pick it up. Then she picked up the paper and before opening it looked around to make sure no one was there.

Opening it, she found three words scrawled across the top while on the bottom was a carefully drawn chibi picture of her chasing Ranma with a broom.

Smiling brightly for the first time that day she read it out loud.

**xoxo**

Akane awoke early the next morning, before anyone else was up. She quietly tiptoed to the room where the Saotome's slept and stepped inside to find a bunch of crumpled papers around the room.

Curiously she knelt down to pick up one and opened it to find a picture just like the one on the paper in her room, except there were a few mistakes. Some other papers were the same, the same picture but with mistakes and an X crossed over them. One even showed the attempts at a poem. Another listed all the things he had said about her in the store the other day, when she didn't know who he was talking about.

Finally she stumbled upon a few that were worth her efforts. One read, 'Don't worry about everyone else, Akane. I don't. Only you matter.' She giggled at it, being careful not to wake up Ranma or Genma. Another said simply 'I love you' which made her turn to stare at him blankly. She quickly crumpled them back, dropped them to the floor and hurriedly left the room to take her bath.

**xoxo**

At breakfast they were both quiet, but to everyone else it seemed more like a calmness. They avoided looking at each other, except for a brief moment when their eyes locked accidentally.

The words rang through her mind for that moment.

'You and Me,' she thought, not knowing it was the same thing going through his.

**xo end xo**

I spent five hours straight last night writing this story down on paper. I pretty much used my insomnia to help me. It was something that had been stuck in my head for like a week now. I just needed to get it out there.

First off, Akane seems pretty OOC (out of character) but in some weird twisted way, don't you kind of act differently in a different environment? My excuse is that she was so used to having her job to herself and being calm and level-headed there that even when Ranma showed up her composed exterior was very strong.

Next, the only reason I put that scene where Akane went to Ranma's room at the end was because I wanted to show you guys all the other ideas of what could've been on that piece of paper on her bed. It also showed how much effort he put into a simple gift. But most were crumpled because he realized that they were too sappy and it would make him seem too out of character.

Let's see...and the reason Akane went to Ranma's room in the morning? Well, in a way she was still kind of shocked that he could ever pull something like that. She just wanted to get a look at him to make sure he was still the same person and not some alien who was tricking her. Disbelief makes us do weird things.

I think this is my favorite one-shot so far. I'm just glad I got myself out of my weird, lazy state and am writing something now. Well, tell me what you think or whatever. Ciao.

8-5-05


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